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ITEM CA11
CABINET - 18 JULY 2006
OXFORDSHIRE FIRE COVER REVIEW
Report by the Director for Community
Safety & Chief Fire Officer
Introduction
- The need to carry out a comprehensive review
of fire cover for the County using the Fire Service Emergency Cover
(FSEC) model software is one of the issues identified within the Integrated
Risk Management Plan 2006/07. The project has been designed to achieve
an optimum strategy to improve community safety through the allocation
of resources and the nature of the response to incidents by the Fire
and Rescue Service.
- The purpose of this report is to provide
Cabinet with an interim view of the work done to date, together with
some of the emerging themes that will influence the longer term strategic
plan for the Fire and Rescue Service.
Background
- The historical location and weight of response
(number of firefighters and fire appliances) required in the areas served
by each of our 24 fire stations has its origins in the National Standards
of Fire Cover that remained largely unchanged from the first document
produced in 1947. The standards were property-based, determining risks
by building type and density. These standards were removed in 2004 and
replaced by local response standards that were endorsed by Cabinet and
are determined by the risk to life. As consequence of the Fire and Rescue
Service Act 2004 we now have a statutory responsibility relating to
road traffic collisions and other life threatening incidents.
- Our local response standards have served
to highlight the difficulties faced in providing day time fire and rescue
cover in our more rural communities. Areas falling outside our 11 and
14 minutes response standard are systematically targeted for community
fire safety activity that includes the fitting of smoke alarms. This
approach reduces the overall risk and the potential need for an emergency
response. A note of the Service’s performance over the past year against
the response standards is attached (Annex
1).
- Within the current static portfolio of fire
stations there is limited room for service delivery improvement. Therefore
a re-engineered approach to the prioritisation of fire cover is required
Emerging Themes
- Our Fire and Rescue Service has a clear
ten year vision to reduce the impact of fires and other emergencies
on communities in Oxfordshire. Underpinning that vision are strategies
covering areas such as community fire safety, technical fire safety,
young people, and road traffic collisions. These strategies will provide
the joined up risk reduction activity for service delivery on the major
themes of protection, prevention and intervention.
- It has long been acknowledged that the Retained
duty system is a highly cost effective component of our modern Fire
and Rescue Service. Almost 60% of firefighters in Oxfordshire are Retained
with 18 out of the 24 fire stations being crewed solely by Retained
personnel.
- Despite a large recruitment drive and the
deployment of wholetime firefighters to support Retained fire stations
on overtime, there is difficulty in maintaining fire appliance availability
during the day. There are also difficulties with retaining these firefighters
with the average career of a Retained firefighter now only five years.
Effectively, once trained as a firefighter, as a fire appliance driver
and in first aid, we find they are tending to leave the service. In
the last three years we have had 142 Retained personnel leave the Service
and we have recruited 138. That represents one third of our Retained
complement leaving the Service with the majority of those people being
experienced competent firefighters. This operational experience drain
is not sustainable in the longer term and will cause issues with crews
being too inexperienced to commit to the full range of incidents.
- In many cases this trend can be attributed
to changing lifestyles and work patterns over recent years. Free time
for family and social activities outside of the working environment
is precious. In parallel with this, there has been a surge in the mobility
of labour with people from rural communities travelling further to obtain
employment. Rural businesses are under economic pressure to maintain
profit margins and the release of key members of their staff during
working hours is becoming more difficult.
- The European Union Working Time Directive
has had a further impact, with the requirement for people to have at
least two free days from duty a week resulting in the reduction of available
hours per individual from 168 hours per week to 120. If fully applied
to the Service it would result in the Retained establishment having
to increase from 312 units to 457. The resulting potential increase
in budget to meet this theoretical establishment while a full review
was being undertaken could not be justified. However the consequences
of this legislation must be factored into the resource planning for
the Fire and Rescue Service.
- A further dimension is the introduction
of the National Selection Standards for all firefighters which could
make entry into the Retained service as challenging as the wholetime.
It is anticipated that this may have a negative impact on the number
of suitable applicants for the Retained service. We are making representations
to central government to take a more realistic approach that would maintain
safety standards whilst achieving competent firefighter skills.
- Linked to these selection standards is the
view that Retained personnel should be trained to the same standards
as wholetime personnel across all fire and rescue activities. To be
properly addressed this would place a further burden in terms of time
commitment on the Retained and their primary employer, with the potential
to increase the number of Retained personnel leaving the service due
to social/employment pressures.
Financial Implications
- A key element of the Countywide fire cover
review will be to establish the true unit cost of provision. This process
involves analysis of all the resource requirements for providing effective
prevention, protection and emergency response arrangements across the
County. This process will enable comparison of the current cost of both
wholetime and Retained provision. Historically, and as one of the lowest
cost per head brigades nationally, it has been accepted that significant
efficiencies are achieved by utilising Retained staff in predominately
rural areas. However, this assumption needs to be re-examined within
the context of the changing social and demographic profile of the County,
recruitment and retention issues within the Retained service and our
extended remit to reduce risk within the community.
- This analysis is being undertaken by HR
and Finance staff, under the supervision of the Business Manager (Performance
and Development), and will enable us to examine the ‘full life’ costs
(including training, equipment provision and ongoing development) for
the average employment career of wholetime and Retained firefighters.
The outcome of this analysis will inform the decision making process
for the medium/long-term response arrangements for the County.
A Re-engineered Approach to Fire
Cover – Considerations for the Future
- The pressures on the Retained service are
unlikely to diminish and we must therefore develop a series of viable
options that will ensure the communities served by Oxfordshire Fire
and Rescue Service receive a swift and effective operational response
from competent firefighters in a timely manner. The Fire Authority must
also consider its responsibilities for ensuring the safe systems of
work for firefighters are not compromised by excessive delays in the
attendance of reinforcing fire appliances due to availability and distances
travelled. We must therefore consider a more flexible approach to managing
the risk within our communities without compromising the safety of the
public or our firefighters.
- Examples could include:
- Provide mobile wholetime units during
periods of reduced Retained availability. Existing vehicles could
be utilised. This would require an increase in establishment firefighters.
- Increase community fire safety and risk
information gathering within the rural communities by the provision
of 2 purpose built vehicles. The vehicles would be kitted out to equip
two operational firefighters to carry out home risk assessments and
fit smoke alarms. These vehicles could be operating within areas where
there were crewing deficiencies at the local station and the firefighters
could respond should an incident occur and enable a full attendance
from the Retained station to be made, enabling the local response
standards to be met.
- The FSEC fire cover model is examining a
series of options that explores the relocation of key fire stations
that would improve response times to areas of identified risk. This
could include the rationalisation of some fire stations presenting opportunities
for capital receipts but would require a capital investment over the
longer term. There will be continued horizon scanning for opportunities
that will enable some quick wins. The West End development may provide
an opportunity to relocate Rewley Road fire station to an alternative
site that improves the local response standards around the Kidlington
area. There may be some opportunities with the planned library at Thame
and the college relocation in Witney may provide some movement. There
is also the potential sale of Banbury ambulance station with planning
permission for domestic dwellings. As the site is interlinked to Banbury
fire station it would seem logical to consider the sale of the whole
site to a developer, as it would make a much larger investment opportunity
enabling the relocation of Banbury fire station to be considered.
- Joint service emergency access points (Police,
Fire, Ambulance) giving access to the M40 at key locations would provide
improved attendance times and ensure the early release and removal of
casualties to hospital. This area is currently under consideration with
colleagues in the other services.
Conclusion
- Cabinet is asked to note the emerging themes
and the future considerations, which have funding implications, both
revenue and capital. A staged change approach, as the true unit cost
of the Retained workforce is calculated, is a preferred option, so as
to enable the actual budget implications to be established for the longer
term.
- For the present, resolving fire cover shortfalls
with overtime payments will continue: this will be used in the short
term to support those retained stations which might otherwise fail to
provide fire cover. Deployment of staff in this way will also provide
the means to carry out Community Fire Safety and Risk Information gathering
coupled with the ability to respond to the local fire station to deploy
as part of the crew to attend an emergency. However, this will stretch
resources and close management and monitoring will be necessary. It
is not ultimately a sustainable solution.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
- note the emerging themes and
issues identified in the report in respect of future fire cover
arrangements and the potential future revenue and capital implications;
- ask the Director for Community
Safety & Chief Fire Officer to develop quantified options
to ensure the continued achievement and maintenance of the Authority’s
fire cover standards.
JOHN PARRY
Director for Community Safety & Chief
Fire Officer
Background Papers:
Local Response Standards
ODPM publication 'Retaining the Retained'
National Framework Document
Contact Officer: Mike
Smyth, Deputy Chief Fire Officer (Tel: 01865-855205)
July 2006
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